Posts Categorized: Health and Wellness
Stop Telling Me What to Do
This is an open letter to men (and women) everywhere. Stop telling me what to do. I’m so tired of seeing posts all over social media telling women what to do. Stop bullying me and trying to force me into becoming a girl who hates herself. Each comment you make is like a double-edged sword in my side. I don’t need you to tell me that if I wear too much make-up that I’m fake or trying too hard then, in same the breath, tell me that if I’m not wearing any make-up that I’m lazy or don’t try hard enough. Meanwhile, in both cases you make the argument “If only girls could love themselves and appreciate their beauty.” How the hell do you expect us to love ourselves when you’re… Read more »
Perspective: It’s Time to Allow Foreign Doctors to Provide Care
Though many religious leaders say it is not required given the circumstances, diabetic and pregnant Muslims often try to celebrate Ramadan with both fasting and prayer. This practice requires the supervision and care of a culturally-competent doctor who understands both the medical issues that could spring up from fasting as a diabetic or mother-to-be, but also one who understands the cultural significance of the holiday. Culturally-competent doctors can be hard to come by in the United States; many medical students have only just begun to be assigned textbooks on the subject of treating those from foreign cultures. So why, then, is it so difficult for doctors from foreign countries to get certified in the United States? According to the Migration Policy Institute, there are now nearly 42 million immigrants living the United… Read more »
Our Communities Deserve Better
A lot of times when people talk about gun violence and gun control in the United States, they think of the numbers. Statistics are thrown around more than personal stories, and when we do talk about people involved in shootings it’s usually about labeling the shooter by the different stereotypes we’ve formulated for mass shooters: the terrorist or the mentally ill person. We don’t talk about how mass shootings and loose gun laws affect the community. I did this numbers-over-people type of thinking about gun violence without realizing it, a lot. The past few months changed that for me however. Until I was 9, my family lived in Southern California. The San Bernardino Mountains are my childhood home. A long-time family friend even works as a probation officer for… Read more »
It’s Okay to Struggle with Self-Care
There’s currently an entire movement going on aimed at teaching people proper self-care. I think this is a great idea with great intentions; however, I find the saturation of this content to be a bit stressful at times. I would argue that we are constantly being bombarded with lists and articles telling us how to best take care of ourselves. It seems sort of counter-intuitive to me. I’m stressing out about all of these articles telling me how not to stress out? I’m stressed out because I’m struggling to make time for these things that are supposed to cure me of my stress? I’m here to tell you that self-care is more than just doing yoga and taking bubble-baths. (Don’t get me wrong, those things can work wonders, but it’s not… Read more »
WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT FLINT’S WATER CRISIS
Since we’ve covered it here on ChoiceWords before, I’m not going to tell you exactly why the Flint Water Crisis is a reproductive justice issue. Others have done that with more tact than I might have. What I want to do today is tell you how important it is to muster a response to this crisis, from my own experience. I used to report on business news in Birmingham, Ala. It was an interesting job, to say the least. I got to interview everyone from cookie barons to the Japanese Consul-General of the Southeastern United States. And while I worked there, I would have to do a great deal of research on the companies I wrote about. If I was going to interview someone from Caterpillar, I needed to know how their distribution… Read more »
Flint, Michigan: Why Environmental Justice is Reproductive Justice
Michigan has made national news a good bit lately for the water crisis in Flint. For those that are unaware of what is going on, or who haven’t heard much about it, I’ll give a bit of background. In April of 2013, a money-saving decision was made by the state-level officials that Flint residents would no longer receive their water from Detroit, but from a pipeline from Lake Huron. This pipeline would not be completed for a few years, but Detroit cut them off from receiving water a year later. Until the pipeline is complete, the residents have to drink water from the Flint River. Here’s where the situation starts to fall apart. Residents began complaining about the water within a month. Two boil advisories were listed over the course… Read more »
An open letter: How the Reproductive Justice movement taught me self-love
To anyone who struggles with what they see in the mirror, To anyone who finds themselves avoiding a mirror, To anyone who struggles with self-love, I recently learned I am a huge hypocrite when it comes to self-love. If I see someone tear themselves down, I’ll immediately intervene and do everything I can to reassure them of their worth. But when I look in the mirror, I tear myself down more than anyone. Being a reproductive justice activist, and a part of URGE, has shown me that. I always knew it was important to help make other people feel good about themselves, but I didn’t see the value in making myself feel good; I thought it made me egotistical. I always told myself that looks didn’t matter anyway. I later… Read more »
Reproductive Justice and the Right to Die
One of the greatest achievements of the reproductive justice movement is the considerable work that has been done to weave the injustices faced by poor women seeking an abortion and the police violence that black folks face together into a coherent critique of structural violence. Recognizing that marginalized communities must stand together when calling for the right to live a life free of violence and full of love is powerful. Despite this far-reaching agenda, considerable silence still surrounds our final phase of life. If the goal of the reproductive justice movement is life on our own terms, then we need to embrace the uncomfortable truth that death will always lurk on the other side. This means that the reproductive justice community must engage with the grim reality that just as… Read more »
Your Cervix Is Beautiful, according to this organization
Have you ever wanted to see just what your stomach looked like? Or your heart? Or liver? What about your cervix? Not a lot of people know about the fundamental functions or appearance of their reproductive organs — I didn’t know what a prostate did until I was well into college, knowing until then only that it was something that can end up cancerous. Unlike the digestive system, and the circulatory system, or even the nervous system, rarely do we get briefed on the inner workings of the reproductive system beyond the function of the sperm and the egg (if that at all). The cervix is one such organ that people may have never seen. In some circles, it is viewed like the prostate: generally something that exists gives you… Read more »
Don’t Let One Positive Make Everything Negative
There are a lot of reasons I personally don’t like Charlie Sheen. He cheated on his wife. Assault charges. Domestic violence. Drug abuse. He’s an anti-vaxxer. The list goes on. And like most people, he has a few redeeming qualities as well. Major League is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, and I don’t think it would’ve been the same with someone else playing Wild Thing. He was also in Eight Men Out, which is my second favorite baseball movie of all time. Even with that to his credit, I am not a fan of him overall. But you know what isn’t one of my reasons? As he announced Tuesday morning and had been rumored prior to this, Charlie Sheen is HIV-positive. Because it’s 2015 and not 1985, I… Read more »
